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2014年11月27日 星期四

The Passive Voice

Passive voice
Section 1: What is “ Passive Voice”? (video)
Study this example:

 Subject              (Object)
Somebody built this house in 1935. à (active voice)

 


This house was built by somebody in 1935. à (passive voice)
(Subject)                        Object

1.     English has two voices: active (It’s the one we normally use.) and passive.
-         When we use the active voice, we say what subject does, as in the first sentence in the example. The active voice stresses the doer of the action.
-         When we use the passive voice, we say what happens to the object, as in the second sentence in the example. The passive voice stresses the receiver of the action.
(active voice為主動語態也就是一般由人或其他可以有做動作能力的主詞帶頭的句子。passive voice為被動語態意即為由無法有動作能力的名詞帶頭，這些名詞通常是主動句中的受詞。)
Example:
Active voice -
  1. My grandfather was a builder. He built this house in 1935.
  2. It’s a big company. It employs two hundred people.
Passive voice –
1.     This house is quite old. It was built in 1935.
2.     Two hundred people are employed by the company.

2. By studying the above examples, we find…
The form of the passive voice:
Active: S + V + O

Passive: S + be Vpp + (by O)

Somebody cleans this room everyday.

This room is cleaned every day (by somebody).

3. When do we use the passive voice?
We use the passive voice when:
1) We want to stress what happens to the subject.
2) Who or what causes the action is often unknown or unimportant:
- A lot of money was stolen in the robbery. (Someone stole it, but we don’t know who)
- Is this room cleaned every day? (does someone clean it? It’s not important who)
3) If we want to say who does or what causes the action, we use by + object:
- This house is built by my grandfather.
- The book is written by John.

4. Using the passive voice in different tenses.
Using passive voice in simple tenses. (Simple present/past/future) (video)
The form:
In the simple present tense:
S + is/am/are Vpp + (by O)
- Many accidents are caused by careless driving.
- I’m not often invited to the parties (by my classmates).
- How is the word pronounced?

In the simple past tense:
S + was/were Vpp + (by O)
- We were woken up by a loud noise during the night.
- “Did you go the party?” “No, I wasn’t invited.”
- How much money was stolen in the robbery?

In the simple future tense:
S + will be Vpp + (by O) or S + is/am/are going to be Vpp
- The high way next to Fay’s house will be closed for two days.
- “English will be spoken at this conference,”
- Peter will be punished when he comes home.
- A new supermarket is going to be built next year.
* We must make sure that the patterns of the tenses are set and then we set the patterns for the passive voice.

Using passive voice in continuous (progressive) tenses. (present/past continuous) (video)
The form:
In the present continuous tense:
S + is/am/are being Vpp
à We first write down the pattern of present continuous tense (the underlined part) and then we write down the pattern of the passive voice (the part in the square).
… is/am/are  Ving à (continuous)
+                    be   Vpp à (passive)
--------------------------------------------------
    is/am/are   being  Vpp
Example:
- There is somebody walking behind us. I think we are being followed.
- (in a shop) “Can I help you?” “No, thank you. I’m being served.”
In the past continuous tense:
S + was/were being Vpp
… was/were Ving à (continuous)
+                   be   Vpp à (passive)
--------------------------------------------------
   was/were   being  Vpp
Example:
- There were somebody walking behind us. We were being followed.


Using passive voice in perfect tenses. (video)

The form:
In the present perfect tense:
S + have/has been Vpp + (by O)
… has/have Vpp à (perfect)
+                   be   Vpp à (passive)
--------------------------------------------------
     has/have  been  Vpp
Example:
- Have you heard? The concert has been cancelled.
- Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
- “Are you going to the party?” “No, I haven’t been invited.”
In the past perfect tense:
S + had been Vpp + (by O)
… had  Vpp à (perfect)
+            be   Vpp à (passive)
--------------------------------------------------
    had   been  Vpp
Example:
- The vegetables didn’t taste very good. They had been cooked too long.
- The car was three years old but hadn’t been used very much.

Using passive voice with modal verbs or infinitives.
The form:
With modal verbs or infinitives
S + should/must/can/to…etc. be + Vpp (by O)
- The situation is serious. Something must be done beforeit’s too late.
- The mystery is something that can’t be explained.
- The music was very loud and could be heard from a long way away.
- Please go away. I want to be left alone.

With perfect modal verbs or infinitives
S + should/must/can/to…ect. have been Vpp (by O)
- I haven’t received the letter yet. It might have been sent to the wrong address.
- If you hadn’t left the car unlocked, it wouldn’t have been stolen.
- There were some problems at first, but they seem to have been solved.

Using passive voice with dative verbs (Verbs that can have two objects)
give     ask     offer     pay     show     teach     tell …
Active:
Somebody gave the police officer the information.
                Object 1    Object 2
(= Somebody gave the information to the police officer.)

Passive: (It is possible to make two passive sentences)
The police officer was given the information. Or
The information was given to the police officer.

Using passive voice with “I don’t like being…”
This rule applies to all verbs which must be followed by Ving.
A short list of verbs followed by “Ving”

mind   avoid   enjoy   stop   finish   complete   go on   keep   hate

Active: … like + Ving         - I don’t like people telling me what to do.
Passive: … like + benig + Ving  - I don’t like being told (by people) what to do.

Example:
- I remember being taken to the zoo when I was a child. (= I remember somebody taking me to the zoo)
- Steve hates being kept waiting. (= he hates people keeping him waiting)
- We managed to climb over the wall without being seen. (= without anybody seeing us)

Using “get” instead of “be” in the passive:
…be + Vpp = get + Vpp

Example:
- There was a fight at the party, but nobody got hurt. (= nobody was hurt)
- I don’t often get invited to parties. (= I’m not often invited)

# We use get only when things happen, as in the following situations;
- Jill is liked by everyone. (not get liked – this is not a “happening”)
- He was a mystery man. Very little was known about him. (not got known)

# We use get mainly in informal expression. You can use be in all situations.
# We also use get in the following expressions (which are not passive in meaning)
(PS: The words that come after get are adjectives, not verbs)
get married, get divorced, get lost, get dressed, get changed (= change your clothes)

 Passive voice exercises:
Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (1).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (1) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (2).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (2) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (3).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (3)answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (4).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (4) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (5).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the present and the past tenses) (5) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the continuous tenses) (1).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the continuous tenses) (1) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the perfect tenses) (1).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the perfect tenses) (1) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the perfect tenses) (2).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the perfect tenses) (2) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the infinitive and perfect) (1).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the infinitive and perfect) (1) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (the dative verbs) (1).doc answer keys: Passive voice (the dative verbs) (1) answer keys.doc
Passive voice (I don't like being) (1).doc answer keys: Passive voice (I don't like being) (1) answer keys.doc







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